This is a mysterious four-track, twenty minute demo CD from the enigmatically/frustratingly-named Prdctv, which arrived without much information beyond a scribbled note. A quick investigative delve into the internet reveals that ‘Prdctv is the stage name of Oxford-based Alex Lloyd,’ and that he composes music on, like, computers and that, but has real live humans assisting him when playing live.
Now, the music here falls broadly under that convenient ‘electronica’ tag, but it leans slightly towards the more techno/rhythm-based end of things rather than snoozing ambience, cavernous dubstep, jump-up two-step, or whatever ridiculous phraseology you might like to attach to these things. On display here is a pleasing refusal to conform too closely to traditions of arrangement and simplicity, with both ‘Paradise Gone To Waste’ and ‘The Choirmaster’ dissolving into strange, acoustic instrumentation with mumbled vocals – or mumbled vocal samples – respectively. Seeing that these tracks start out as a cut-up hands-in-the-air rave classic on one hand, and an organ-drenched epic KLF jam on the other, they make for interesting listening. Following these two, ‘Fuego’s Run’ is scuppered by the use of the all-too-familiar robotic ‘Fitter… Happier…’ robotic sample (surely a mistake to do this in Oxford, of all places?), and ‘Hello Bruno’ has a touch of the face-punchingly smug Lemon Jelly about it with its warped do-do-do vocal line, but they complement the other tracks in that they’re worlds apart from them – there are a lot of types of sound at work here.
My modern reference points for this stuff are few, unfortunately – so forgive my obviousness in suggesting Aphex Twin (circa Selected Ambient Works Volume 1), Orbital and Future Sound Of London as potential influences or, at least, artists that are definitely echoed on this demo. It’s rhythmic, inventive, organic-sounding music that mixes acoustic instrumentation with the electronics to create a rich and human whole. I still find it hard to get past that name, though. They’re playing the Jericho Tavern on 31 October – how are people going to tell people who they’re going to see?